Taste of liberty: New York restaurant serves up refugees' dishes from home

Emma’s Torch teaches those fleeing persecution skills for a career in the kitchen – and lets them show off their culinary culture

Amanda Holpuch in New York
@holpuch
Mon 31 Dec 2018 06.00 EST

Culinary adventures are woven into the fabric of New York City. But in Brooklyn one December night, only one restaurant could offer a five-course meal that began with salmon cake and couscous from Mali and ended with an Iraqi dessert, including in between dishes from Honduras and China.

The restaurant is Emma’s Torch, a non-profit that teaches refugees, asylum seekers and survivors of trafficking the culinary and communication skills needed for a career in the kitchen. Six days a week, diners are offered a menu described as: “New American cuisine – prepared by our new American students.”

The restaurant began as a pop-up last year before expanding this summer into a bright, airy restaurant known for its earthy black-eyed pea hummus garnished with dried chillies. The New Yorker food critic, Hannah Goldfield, touted their “perfect shakshuka” served during weekend brunch service in her August review of the restaurant.

In 2019, they will open a second space at Brooklyn Public Library.

Emma’s Torch is named for Emma Lazarus, the poet whose words are inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/31/brooklyn-restaurant-refugees-emmas-torch